[Sosfbay-discuss] Vi$ta = More Micro$oft's Bull...

[Cameron L. Spitzer]

I've given away a lot of Knoppix disks at Green Party meetings.
They're in our tabling kit, but I don't think anybody but me
pushes them.  Knoppix and Ubuntu are both based on the most
comprehensive integrated software collection I know about,
Debian GNU/Linux.  Knoppix and Ubuntu come in "Live" versions,
that you can use for a while before installing.  Ubuntu has
the most "buzz" these days for some reason.  It's definitely
hit critical mass, and will not go away even if the
company (Canonical Ltd of Isle of Man) folds up tomorrow.

I believe this is the system Pike and Kernighan had in mind
when they invented unix about forty years ago.  It was designed
for "viral" distribution.  People give it to their friends and
show them how to use it.  Computing isn't consumption, it's
learning and sharing.

Most people take the disk to be polite, but never get
as far as sliding the flyer out of the sleeve, unfolding
it, and reading it.  Without a friend to show them, they
never make it to the second step, sticking the CD in the slot
and rebooting their computers.  It goes in a drawer with the
other literature they brought home that day.

It reminds me of "cage free" chickens.  They hatch in little
cages.  There's a doorway that opens into a little exercise yard,
but they're scared to walk through it.  So they spend their
lives in the cages anyway.  They can't imagine freedom.

The arrogance of MSFT Vista creates an opportunity.  People
are being told they have to "upgrade," and they're willing
to consider escaping instead.


Cameron